Tim Storrier was represented in last year’s Archibald Prize with another self-portrait without a face. Entitled Moon boy (self-portrait as a young man), the figure was represented by a suit of empty clothes hanging as if on a scarecrow in a barren landscape.

This year’s self-portrait is, as he notes, a work in a quite different mood. ‘It refers to a painting by Hieronymus Bosch called The wayfarerpainted in 1510 where the figure is believed to be choosing a path or possibly the prodigal son returning,’ says Storrier. ‘It also has other references, I believe, but they are rather clouded in biblical history and time. ‘A carapace of burden is depicted in The histrionic wayfarer, clothed in the tools to sustain the intrigue of a metaphysical survey. Provisions, art materials, books, papers, bedding, compass and maps, all for the journey through the landscape of the artist’s mind, accompanied by Smudge, the critic and guide of the whole enterprise.’

Though there is no face to identify him, Storrier believes that identity is made clear by the clothes and equipment carried. Storrier has included a drawing of himself in the painting, scribbled on a piece of paper being blown away by the wind.